


Once Upon a Time

by angel1876



Category: Portal (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Gen, Isolation, Tragedy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-07
Updated: 2018-09-07
Packaged: 2019-07-08 01:15:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,062
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15919947
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/angel1876/pseuds/angel1876
Summary: Once upon a time...Isn't that how all good fairy tails start?





	Once Upon a Time

Her parents used to tell her stories before bed. Sometimes it came from a book, and they'd have her follow along, teaching her words. A lot of times, though, they made things up for her. 

Once upon a time, they'd say, there was a little girl named Chell, and she was going to go on an adventure. She was going to make new friends, fly into space, fight the bad guys.

Entire novels painted out as nights passed. Favorite characters returned. There was Bugsby the Owl, he was a scientist, like mom. Then there was Smarmy the Alligator, and she was a teacher, like dad. She liked them because they reminded her of her parents.

Then there was the bad guy. The bad guy was a great brute of a dragon named Draco. He liked to do bad things, like steal away all the best cookies and not let anyone else have them, ever. Or try to get rid of all the flowers in the world because they made his nose itch.

It was hard for her to sleep, those first few nights in the box. The big glass one, connected to the test chambers, with her new bed and little else. Her parents weren't around to tell her the stories, and it wasn't like she herself had the voice to do it anymore. The stitches across the front of her throat still hurt...

The redhead was at fault for that.

He was a bad scientist. Her mother was a good one, and there were others who were nice to her, but the redhead was awful. He punched her rat friend for trying to help her, and he was the reason she was in there now.

The bad scientist was probably watching her.

It was that thought that made her decide to tell herself stories anyway. If he was watching, then he was going to know that he wasn't getting to her. She could have a normal night despite him. She didn't need her voice.

Once upon a time, there was a little girl named Chell. Normally, she would be fighting Draco the Dragon with her friends, Bugsby the Owl and Smarmy the Alligator, but right now she was kidnapped. The good scientists wanted to help, but they were too far under the control of the bad one. That was okay, because Bugsby and Smarmy were going to come and beat him up, and her parents were going to come and break her out of this box.

It made her happy, and so she told herself that story for days. She wasn't sure how many days, it was always bright, but it was for a long time.

The scientists said that her parents would be back for her. When they saw what the bad scientist did, he'd be sorry.

Once upon a time, there was a little girl named Chell. She was trapped in a box, but this box opened up into bigger areas. If she tried hard enough, she'd find a way out. Her mom and dad would be out there waiting for her, and they'd be so proud of her that she made it out on her own. Together, they'd go after the bad guy.

But time stretched on, far longer than it should have. The panels in the testing chambers shocked her when she touched them. Cameras watched her, but she never saw anyone behind them.

Once upon a time, there was a little girl named Chell, and she'd been kidnapped along with her parents. The scientist had them trapped, somewhere, and she was stuck in a box. They missed her, worried for her, but they couldn't get out to find her. Smarmy the Alligaror and Bugsby the Owl were looking for her in their big spaceship, and one day they'd find her, but before that she was going to escape. She was going to find her mom and dad and she was going to save them, and then they'd all fly away.

The cameras didn't move to follow her anymore.

Once upon a time, there was a little girl named Chell. She was trapped in a box for so long that even Draco the Dragon, the evilest dragon to have ever lived, was angry on her behalf. Draco was going to eat the redhead scientist for her. She was going to save her parents. They were going to escape.

Chell's world was filled with metal things that tried to shoot her when she walked past. They called her a friend. You can't call someone a friend if you shoot them. She knocked the things onto their sides and threw them into the invisible grid that made them scream and vanish.

Once upon a time, there was a little girl named Chell, and she was beginning to suspect that the scientists who were nice to her had been lying. They were with the redhead, and she was going to kill them if she ever got out. Draco didn't have to eat them, she would.

She lay one night, on her bed, listless. It's not the first time she's felt like this. Bored, lonely, hollow. It's been days since she last ate, but she can't convince herself to go through the tests just yet.

Once upon a time, there was a little girl named Chell. The spaceship was gone. The dragon was gone. Bugsby and Smarmy weren't real, and her parents weren't coming back.

The door to her box opened one day, and a voice talked to her from over the intercom. Cameras long since dead rose back to their long-abandoned positions to watch her.

Once upon a time, there was a little girl named Chell. She was alone, but that's okay, because she was going to go outside for the first time in forever.

Anyone who tried to stop her was going find themselves dead.

The journey outside took much longer than she thought it would. For every obstacle she took down, a bigger, scarier one took its place. Now outside, she stood against a tree, looking up at the moon with a coldness in her heart.

Once upon a time, there was a little girl named Chell. She went to space. She took down a dragon. She made it outside.

She had no friends, and her parents were gone...but there was still Chell, once upon a time. 


End file.
